Blood Feud (book)
Blood Feud: The man who blew the whistle on one of the deadliest prescription drugs ever (2011) is a non-fiction book by American author Kathleen Sharp delves into the lives of Mark Duxbury and Dean McClellan, two drug salesmen for a unit of Johnson and Johnson. The friends sold record levels of J&J’s anti-anemia drug until they realized they were being asked to promote it in a fraudulent, off-label manner. Duxbury and McClellan filed a lawsuit revealing how the pharmaceutical giant defrauded the public, flouted government regulations and ignored patient safety in its ruthless race to boost profit. Duxbury’s and McClellan’s whistle-blowing case is still in U.S. District court, being fought by attorney Jan Schlichtmann, famous for his efforts in a case described in another acclaimed book, A Civil Action. The last major ruling in the Duxbury case was in August 2009.
Editions
Hardback
Audiobook
Digital
Paperback with revised title, Blood Medicine
Reception
Sharp’s book has been well-received as a significant work with Kirkus Reviews calling it, “a blockbuster of a story, especially today with Medicare potentially on the chopping block.” Professionals from the medical industry at the Center for Medical Consumers also found the material factually relevant. They praise the informative nature of the book as it reveals the practices of the healthcare industry; “this book is a goldmine of information about how the nation’s pharmaceutical companies inflate the cost of medicines while hiding the true cost from consumers as well as the government payers.”
Feud
A feud /ˈfjuːd/, referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, beef, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party (correctly or incorrectly) perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another. Intense feelings of resentment trigger the initial retribution, which causes the other party to feel equally aggrieved and vengeful. The dispute is subsequently fuelled by a long-running cycle of retaliatory violence. This continual cycle of provocation and retaliation makes it extremely difficult to end the feud peacefully. Feuds frequently involve the original parties' family members and/or associates, can last for generations, and may result in extreme acts of violence. They can be interpreted as an extreme outgrowth of social relations based in family honor.
Until the early modern period, feuds were considered legitimate legal instruments and were regulated to some degree. For example, Montenegrin culture calls this krvna osveta, meaning "blood revenge", which had unspoken but highly valued rules. In tribal societies, the blood feud, coupled with the practice of blood wealth, functioned as an effective form of social control for limiting and ending conflicts between individuals and groups who are related by kinship, as described by anthropologist Max Gluckman in his article "The Peace in the Feud" in 1955.
Blood Feud (1978 film)
Blood Feud (Italian: Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova, si sospettano moventi politici, and also known as Revenge) is a 1978 Italian thriller film directed by Lina Wertmüller.
Cast
References
External links
Blood Feud (The Simpsons)
"Blood Feud" is the twenty-second and final episode of The Simpsons' second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on July 11, 1991. In the episode, Mr. Burns falls ill and desperately needs a blood transfusion. Homer discovers Bart has Burns' rare blood type and urges his son to donate some, promising that they will be handsomely rewarded. However, after receiving the blood, all Burns does is send the family a card. Enraged, Homer writes an insulting reply, but Marge convinces him at the last minute not to send it, although Bart mails it anyway.
The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by David Silverman. Executive producer Sam Simon and writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss came up with the idea for the episode. A co-worker had recently needed a blood transfusion and the writers thought it would be funny if Mr. Burns had one. Although Meyer was credited with writing the episode, Jean and Reiss re-wrote and polished the script. The episode includes the debut of the Olmec head Xtapolapocetl, which would become a common background prop in the Simpson home.
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